Homemade Holiday
by Queen-of-Ice101
Summary: As the final confrontation begins to descend upon them, Rhen has one focus and no time to dwell on the past. However on occasion, once night falls & the moments of peace between the chaos have settled over them she is left with no distraction from the memories of what she has lost. Now more than ever, her world could use a little bit of holiday cheer.


Hello all!

So I am finally back to my true love of Aveyond and glorious fanfiction:D Last year was a hell of a ride, both school wise and just general life which sadly resulted in a serious lapse in creativity, but I'm finally back in all my cracky glory XD

I know most of my stories have a very set pairing theme, but this one is going to be a teeny bit different. I wrote this for last years winter exchange, but for some dumb reason never ended up posting it! So here is my gift on for the lovely Anusha53! A RhenxLars christmas fic~

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 **Homemade Holiday**

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A cheery fire crackled in the far corner of the many ornate bedrooms filling the Sedona Manor. The fire cast a warm glow over the room, illuminating the sword singer armour hanging on the rack and the violet haired young woman sitting on her bed. Melancholy hung around her as she gazed at the fresh sprig of holly in her hand.

A soft knock on the door of her room made the female jump slightly, a startled look washing over her ruddy features.

"Rhen, can I come in?" Called a familiar voice.

"Uh, sure." Rhen called, her answer a beat behind what would have been normal.

At her words the door opened slightly, making just enough room for the more slender form of a certain green haired sorcerer to slip inside before the door was closed behind him.

"Lars? Please tell me that Galahad didn't break another dining chair throwing it at Te'ijal." Rhen groaned, envisioning the mess already.

"Actually, no. They're all actually coexisting pretty well." He said distractedly, glancing away for a moment. "I came more here for….well I came to see how you were doing."

He trailed off then, Rhen staring at him in puzzlement.

"How I was doing? I'm not sick.." Then she considered her statement for a moment. "At least I'm pretty sure I'm not. Did Dameon say he sensed illness or something?"

Lars heaved a theatric sigh.

"The Sun Priest never said a thing, I came here because of that." Lars scoffed, pointing at the holly in her hands. "When that traveller gave it to us in talking about spreading the joy your face sort of fell. You've been absurdly happy all week before that after we finished the most recent quest so what changed?"

Rhen hesitated, purple eyes travelling from her friend and down to the green leaves in her hand. As she stared down her minds eye let the room around her fade, memories of a cozy cottage filled with the sound of winter sweets and the folk songs celebrating the winter solace dancing through her mind. She could almost smell the cinnamon-..

"-ehn? Rhen? Helloo!"

The hand that settled on her shoulder to give a light shake jolted her back into awareness and she looked up at Lars with a slightly sad smile.

"Back home right now in Clearwater they're having a festival, to celebrate the Winter Solace which falls today. Since I….was taken I haven't paid much attention to the holidays but when I saw that man it all just suddenly hit me." Rhen ran a finger over one of the leaves, "I knew him from a nearby village, seeing him again and receiving the holly we use in the celebrations just brought back memories."

Silence fell over the pair, the corners of Rhen's mouth drooping again. There was a shift from in front before and an impatient sigh escaped a certain green haired male as he unceremoniously reached down to yank Rhen to her feet.

"Lars?! What-"

"We already have a moping and overall irritating member of this group, you won't add a second one or I swear I'll blast you all" He snarked, Rhen rolling her eyes at him as he continued. "So what you can't be home? It hardly means that you have to ignore the celebration, we can make our own right here."

His statement made Rhen blink in surprise before she slowly glanced around them, a small smile beginning to form.

"That's true, and I know the perfect person to help me make this a Winter Solace…"

At the suddenly mischievous gleam in Rhen's eyes Lars immediately put his hands up in protest, but there was no stopping the swordsinger as she in one fell swoop pulled all the blankets and sheets off her bed to dump over his arms.

"Hey! I have things I want to get done before we start off for the next part of the quest!" Lars protested in vain as he was pulled over to under the large chandelier hanging over an ornate carpet.

"Can you create light that doesn't come from fire?" Rhen asked eagerly, ignoring her friend's protest.

Indignation washed across Lars features before he finally let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, apparently giving in.

"Yes I can, I'll take care of that now before you get too excited and end up setting our manor on fire." He muttered, the rush of magic in the room snuffing out the candles as floating around near the roof incandescent green orbs.

"That's perfect! And it's the colour of the holly even…." Rhen smiled softly before a look of determination pushed aside the melancholy as she went to work.

Grabbing a nearby chair Rhen placed it firmly beneath the chandelier, grabbing one end of a thin sheet from Lars' arms to pull up with her as she stood on the chair and stretched up to loop the end of the sheet around one of the chandelier arms and tie it.

"Pass me another blanket end will you? I'm going to turn this into the Maypole!" Rhen exclaimed with a bright grin.

"You're going to fall if you aren't careful." Her friend sighed, though despite his words he handed up another blanket end for tying.

The young sword singer just laughed at his concern, leaning and bending as she tied blankets to the metal arms perfectly spaced for their improvised solace celebration. Soon she had tied all the blankets, except for one last one on the far end from where she was standing.

"Get off the chair so we can move it over." Lars ordered, moving towards the chair only to be hit in the face with the end of the sheet by Rhen.

"Halt thy steps! I can do it from here, I'll show you."

Then without the least bit of concern for her own wellbeing, the lilac haired young woman proceeded to brace one foot on the back of the chair and push off the seat to balance on the back.

"What are you DOING?!" Lars shrieked, voice hitting a rather impressive pitch as he watched Rhen hurriedly tie the sheet just in time for the chair to tip forward and send her tumbling towards the ground.

The green haired male let out a startled curse, lurching forward to catch the young woman before she could hit the ground but before he could so much as touch her Rhen had already curled and twisted before landing lithely on her feet with a small cheer.

"Done!"

"….Our quest is being led by a reckless idiot." Lars grumbled.

Rhen laughed at that, turning to grin impishly at her friend who muttered a few choice words under his breath as he grabbed the chair and moved it back to where it had been originally sitting against the wall.

With a light and excited laugh Rhen grabbed one of the sheets in a loose grip, twirling around the fabric before setting off in dance as she wove between sheets and attempted to sing the song that was traditional during the Winter Solace.

"You're dreadfully off-key." Lars complained, Rhen stopping her song and pouting a moment.

"I'd like to see you do better." She sniffed, turning her nose up at him teasingly.

"Alright then, I will."

His words brought Rhen pause as she stopped and stared at him, surprise filling her features as he opened his mouth and a soft but steady song began to fill the room, volume growing with Lars confidence.

Soon Rhen was dancing again, clapping and whirling between the fabric that moved in the breeze coming in her open window at the far end of the room. Lars song rose and fell with the movements of the dance, the sorcerer having all but entirely forgotten that the song he sang was one he had only ever heard from the mouths of the slaves he had once held suchdisdainn for.

As the song ended and Lars voice faded Rhen paused in her spinning and moving under the chandelier, turning to look at Lars who had been watching her antics with a barely there smile.

"Hey Lars, c'mere a moment." Rhen singsonged, stepping out away from her improvised maypole.

Lars raised a brow, clearly uninspired by her call as he leaned comfortably against her wall. She snorted at his look, approaching her friend and catching his hand to pull him into the middle of the open space of her room. At her causal touch Lars eyes widened slightly, a soft blush lighting his features although he would have denied it had anything to do with the beaming sword singer holding his hand to his dying breath.

"Come on! I'm going to teach you the traditional dance!" Rhen urged, pulling him to the middle of the empty carpet and grabbing his other hand as she turned to face him.

"A dance?!" Lars squawked, halfheartedly attempting to pull free.

Rhen tightened her grip slightly to keep him in place, cheeks pink from excitement and exertion as she nodded eagerly.

"Come on! You're a noble that's danced before right? This shouldn't be that hard for you."

Lars gave a pointed sniff.

"I'll have you know I've been learning dance since I was a child, the kinds of formal dance that takes place in the empress courts. I would hardly know what to do during a commoners folk dance."

The moment the words left his mouth, hints of distain in his tone a sudden look of sheepish regret crossed his features, shoulders slumping slightly. There were some habits that died hard clearly. He moved to pull away once again but Rhen gave him a tug, causing the tanned male to stumble forward towards her.

"Well then it's only fair that you learn my dance, since you're not in the empress courts right now, you're in my room." Rhen stated, Lars hesitating before giving a slight nod. "Great! Now follow my steps as I go back…."

It didn't take long for the young sorcerer to pick up the steps she was teaching him, and soon the two of them were dancing around the carpet with only a few mishaps of Rhen stepping on Lars feet as he missed a step.

Their laughter floated through the window over the streets as the two teens let go of the weight of the quest on their shoulders for just a few moments, the room blurring around them as they spun and let their steps carry them around the ornate carpet.

"Hey yoUWAH!"

Rhen's statement was cut off as in her as in distraction her leg caught the blue robe swirling around Lars feet in time to his movements. With twin exclamations as they were brought to halt the two of them found themselves tangled as they tipped backwards and landed in a heap on the carpet.

Lars let out a loud oof as Rhen landed rather ungracefully on top of him, both of them staring at each other in shock as they processed what had just happened.

A moment of stunned silence.

Then at once both of them burst into hysterical laughter, Rhen rolling sideways to land on the carpet next to Lars as chortles escaped her. She gasped slightly trying to catch her breath as she recovered from the whirlwind of movement they had just abruptly fallen out of.

"That was fun, I haven't been this relaxed in forever." Rhen admitted, still slightly breathless.

Lars made a sound of agreement and Rhen turned her head to look at her friend. As she dropped her head to he side she found herself face to face with Lars, vibrant green eyes so close as they met her violet orbs. There was a heavy silence before Lars turned pink and abruptly pushed himself upright to stand.

"There's supposed to be a meteor shower tonight, come on." He tossed gruffly over his shoulder as he moved to her window and opened it fully.

Rhen scrambled to her feet, slightly thrown by what had just taken place but recovering quickly as she reached the window and climbed out behind her sorcerer friend.

"Careful." Lars said quietly as Rhen stepped out and wobbled slightly.

Reaching over and taking hold of Rhen's hand from where he stood above her he carefully helped guide her further up, Rhen actually allowing him despite herself as they made their way up to the flat portion over her room.

"It's freezing out here." Rhen muttered as they took a seat with their backs against the other peak.

There was a shuffling noise next to her and Rhen turned sharply only to flush as with a flair of blue fabric a warm robe was settled over her front and she was pulled into Lars side.

"To conserve warmth." He defended, refusing to look at her when the violet eyes young woman looked up at him from where she had been tucked under his arm.

A pleased smile flitted across Rhen's lips and she ducked her head to hide the expression from her companion, leaning into him slightly as she rested her head against his shoulder.

Silence fell over them as they gazed up at the sky, a soft cry of delight escaping Rhen as a shooting star flew overhead through the midnight sky.

"I know that this wasn't exactly the holiday you wanted at home, but did this at least help?"

Lars question broke the silence and Rhen looked over at her friend, the green eyed male gazing down at her inquisitively.

Rhen considered his question a moment before smiling softly, eyes sparkling as stars flew by overhead.

"Yeah. This was a wonderful Winter Solace, thank you Lars." She said quietly, leaning up to brush a featherlight kiss across his cheek.

Surprise flickered across his face before he shot her a crooked smile, dipping his head down to gently press his lips against hers.

Moments later he pulled away, both blushing brightly yet wearing matching smiles as they settled back to watch the show. Rhen's head nestled against his shoulder. his cheek resting on the crown of her hair as they watched the stars celebrate the Winter Solace.


End file.
